Get organizedTips to motivateand ​​inspire you!

With the old year over and tax preparation looming, February is the perfect month to tackle the piles, both physical and digital, of records that have accumulated over the past year (or years!).

I’ll admit it, I do not love dealing with paperwork. As with other necessary tasks I don’t enjoy, such as laundry, my approach is to handle paperwork quickly and get it over with.

I find that the biggest hurdle people face with paperwork is knowing how to create a framework for separating, storing, and acting upon all the different types of papers that enter our lives.

To solve this problem, use my simple acronym to help you create an easy, 3-part file system:

ART = Archive, Reference, To Do

​A is for Archive

Goal: Safely store these documents so you can get to them when you need them but in a place where they won’t clutter up your daily space.

What goes into your archive? Records you need to keep but you rarely need to access, such as

legal documents

business papers

personal and property records

some financial records (e.g. stock certificates)

tax returns and supporting documentation

Store these securely, but not necessarily close at hand. I store these types of things in a safe (for the documents) and in an expanding file case (for tax returns). You could also use a hanging file box or a banker’s box tucked away somewhere in your home. If you already have a file cabinet, use the least-accessible bottom drawer as your Archive drawer.

R is for Reference

​Goal: Organize reference information so filing it is quick and retrieval is easy.

Reference papers come into your home regularly but are not frequently used, although you might have to refer to them at tax time or when you need to look up information. Some examples of reference files are:

financial statements

paid bills

pay stubs and income reports

insurance policies

medical records

receipts

school information

Whenever possible, go paperless with these types of files. If you need to store records for tax purposes, just download the statements and keep them on a server with a backup copy elsewhere.

Many reference files are also “replacement” files. For example, when the new insurance policy arrives, shred the old one and replace it with the new. This way, you’ll keep your files up to date instead of wasting space by storing outdated information.

Store reference files somewhere that’s relatively easy to access, so as to make filing easier and more likely to happen. I use an expanding file case that sits on a shelf under my desk within easy reach. If you have a file cabinet, the top or middle drawer would be a good place.

Some reference files might be needed for your income taxes. If so, having them neatly organized here will give you easy access when it’s time to prepare your taxes. Once the taxes are done, store the supporting reference files with the returns in your Archive area.

T is for To Do

To Do papers are the items that seem to give people the most trouble. They can’t be put away because we need to act on them but then they pile up and sometimes even get lost!

Goal: Organize your To Do’s in an easy-to-reach place so you actually DO them!

To Do’s are things such as:

bills to be paid

receipts to be reconciled

forms to be signed and returned (often for school)

articles that you want to read

As with Reference, go paperless with as many To Do’s as possible. For bills, take it off your To Do list by setting up auto-pay. When the e-bill arrives, just note the payment date and check that you have the funds in your account.

How to store To Do’s? A desktop file (best without a lid) keeps them in view without being unsightly. Other options are stadium files and wall pocket or cascading files. Unlike a single (usually overflowing) inbox, these storage solutions allow you to categorize your To Do’s by type (e.g. bills, forms, reading, travel), due date (e.g. dates of the month 1-7, 8-14, 15-21, 22-31), or time it takes to complete the task (e.g. 5 minutes, 15 minutes, ½ hour, 1+ hour).

Now you’re ready to turn your papers into a work of ART!

How’s your paperwork shaping up this tax season? Are you all electronic, all paper, or somewhere in between? I’d love to hear your comments and answer your questions.​

Did you know that January is GO Month? The National Association of Organizing and Productivity Professionals created GO Month as a way to kick-start the year by focusing on getting organized and being productive.

GO = Goals + Outline

As a professional organizer, every day I help my clients set organizing goals, then we work together to outline and take the steps needed to achieve their goals.

GOALWhat’s the difference between a resolution and a goal? A resolution defines an action you’ve decided to take, but a goal is the reason WHY you’re taking that action. An action can produce multiple goals. Here’s an example:

Resolution: I will open the mail every day.Goal #1: Eliminate the giant pile of unopened mail that accumulates on the kitchen table.Goal #2: Pay bills on time.Goal #3: Save money by not paying late fees.

Keeping your goal in mind motivates you to continue doing the thing you’ve resolved. Even if you slip a little bit, remember your goal and keep inching toward it.

OUTLINEHaving a goal is great, but without a plan of action you won't get very far.

The outline is the map that leads you to your goal.

Step 1. Define and write down your goal, either on a piece of paper (sticky note, notebook, calendar, etc.) or somewhere in your digital world (a list app, document, notes app, etc.). Don’t forget to write the “why” of your goal (e.g. Open mail daily and don’t let it pile up on the kitchen table so my family has a place to eat dinner.) to keep your eye on the prize.

Step 2. Brainstorm and list all the actions you could take to achieve your goal.

Open mail every day.

Put recycling bin near where I open mail, so it’s easy to toss unneeded paper there instead of on kitchen table.

Make a Bills to Pay folder and hang it in a prominent spot on the wall near where I open the mail so it’s easy to put the bills there instead of on the table.

Set a reminder on my phone to look at the Bills to Pay folder every Tuesday.

When paying a bill, sign up for autopay and paperless options to reduce the amount of mail.

I’ll bet you could come up with a bunch more actions, right? Do a brain dump of all your ideas.

Step 3: Put the actions in order.

List the most crucial action at the top: If I don’t do anything else, at least I must do this.

Next, list the most doable actions or the steps you can take right away.

Give yourself a timeline framework by listing due dates, frequency (e.g. little bits to do each month), or recurrence (e.g. every Tuesday) next to the actions.

The frenetic pace of the holiday season can put us into a flurry of shopping confusion. Read on for a simple solution to gain control of your gift buying!

Have you ever been out shopping for gifts, braving the holiday crowds, when you spied the perfect plaid scarf for Aunt Betty, made your way to the checkout counter with your prize in hand, only to stop yourself and wonder in puzzlement, “Uh-oh. Wait. Did I give her a plaid scarf last year? Or was that Aunt Dot?” Since you can’t remember and don’t want to risk giving the same gift twice, you get out of the checkout line and go back to the gift drawing board. Ugh!

Solution: Keep an ongoing gift list.

As I clicked open my own gift list spreadsheet last week to jot down some Christmas ideas, I looked at the tabs along the bottom and realized that I have been keeping a gift spreadsheet since 2005!

[My teenage daughter’s reaction to this news was to sigh, “Of course you have a gift spreadsheet,” accompanied a roll of the eyes.]

But really, it’s an easy thing to do and a great tool for holiday and birthday planning and budgeting, especially if you buy gifts for lots of different people: immediate family, extended family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, teachers, service providers, etc.

If you’re like me, making a spreadsheet helps you organize your thoughts and ideas into tidy rows and columns. However, if the mere mention of the word “spreadsheet” sends you into panic, fear not! You can keep an ongoing gift list with whatever tool you prefer.Whether you use a spreadsheet, a notes app, or good old-fashioned paper, a gift list will keep you organized and ready for holidays, birthdays, and any-occasiongift giving.

​Whether you use a spreadsheet, a notes app, or good old-fashioned paper, a gift list will keep you organized and ready for holidays, birthdays, and any-occasiongift giving.

For a non-spreadsheet digital solution, use a word program (Google docs will allow you to access your notes online from anywhere.) or a list app (I still love Wunderlist but there are other great ones out there.). If you are a paper person, use a page in your planner or designate a little notebook as your Gift Book.My spreadsheet is pretty simple, consisting of just three columns: name, gift, and amount. You can set up your spreadsheet or notebook the same way.

In the first column, list all the people and recipient categories (e.g. “teachers”) to whom you’ll give a gift.

In the second column, list the gift or gifts. On my spreadsheet, gift ideas that I’m considering are italicized and once I purchase them I put them in regular font. For a paper list, pencil in ideas then write them in ink after you’ve bought them.

The third column lists the total spent on each person/category. This is where a spreadsheet can make things easier by using a function to add numbers.

To keep your list going year after year so you can refer back to past gifts, use a separate spreadsheet tab for each year or a separate page in the notebook for each year.

So this year, streamline your gift-giving by following Santa’s example: make your list and check it twice!

​Spreadsheets don't have to be complex and intimidating, but can be a simple way to organize lists of information, such as my Gift List.

​Do you know this woman?​Laboring to keep this ball of possessions aloft...nearly crushed by the weight of her stuff...dragging even more behind her. Could this be you?!

Last weekend, while in Manchester, NH, for my daughter's robotics tournament, I took some time in the middle of the day to visit the Currier Museum of Art.When I walked through the glass doors into their special exhibit by artist Ethan Murrow, I gasped and stoped in my tracks. In front of me, larger than life, was this incredible, mural sized Sharpie drawing.

"That's how my clients feel before they call me,"I said to my husband.

They feel overwhelmed, overloaded with stuff (physical things, paperwork, digital stuff, or even memories), and they just don't know where to begin unraveling it. When we feel that way, it can seem as if we're hauling the full weight our possessions on our shoulders, and even then we can't fit it all and have to drag the rest behind us!

Does the poor woman get any help? The child looks less like he's trying to prop up the ball of stuff and more like he's just trying to avoid having it fall on him. The full burden is on her!

And yet, there's beauty in this work of art. I admire the exquisite detail in the variety of items, the flowing quality of the Sharpie-drawn lines, and the woman's strong, even elegant, pose.

We can find beauty in confronting our possessions. Do we need to labor under such a heavy burden? No! We can enlist the help of our family (That child is definitely old enough to help!), our friends, and professional organizers (This is what we love to do!). Take a look at that ball of things and discover the legacy of your life that it contains.

We can begin, piece by piece, to untangle the blob of accumulated possessions.

What does this piece say to you?

If this is what your "before" picture feels like, what would your "after" feel like?

Do you love books?I do too! Let's tackle the dilemma of how to love books and pass along a love of reading to those around you while avoiding becoming buried by book avalanches in your home.

While many of us love to read, books can become a clutter problem. It sounds lovely to live with a house full of books, but realistically many of us do not have enough shelves, much less a dedicated library, to house a full collection of all that we’ve read.

Inspired by a recent client whose need to pare down her book collection due to space constraints conflicts with her love of reading and desire to instill that love in her children, here’s my:

Top 10 Ways to Show Your Love of Reading Without Burying Your Home in Books

10. Keep a list of books you’ve read (I do an annual list.) so you don’t have to use your shelves as your booklist.

9. Set strict criteria for what books you keep, e.g. classics, all-time favorites, work-related or reference books that won’t become outdated, favorite series, books that you will reread (Be honest!).

8. Commit to passing along 90% of the books you buy after you read them. Books want to be read, so give them wings to fly to other readers!

7. Swap books among friends or coworkers.

6. Always have a book with you so you can digest a page or two during down time.

Eggs are one of the great products that come to us already nestled into perfectly organized, sturdy-yet-gentle, recyclable, reusable containers.*

So why do refrigerator companies and stores that sell organizing supplies try to convince us that we need to buy rigid plastic (non-recyclable) "egg organizer" containers into which we must transfer our already-contained eggs?

So, you get home from the grocery store and then have to transfer each little egg into a hard plastic container (careful not to break it!) just to put them into your fridge? What if you still had a few eggs left so the new dozen doesn't completely fit? Do you have to buy a second plastic egg bin?

If you do happen to crack an egg, now you have to take all the eggs out and wash the container instead of just leaving it and tossing it into the recycling bin when you're done with the other eggs.

And what about the sell-by date from the original carton? When you transfer the eggs into the fancy bin, you have no idea which eggs are the freshest and when they'll go bad. So maybe you have to take out a pencil and individually mark each egg with its freshness date.

What a waste of time!

One rule of thumb I have for organizing anything is: make it easy to maintain. Organizing should be simple and should follow your natural habits so it'll be easier for you to keep up with it.

Ok, so are we all in agreement that we don't need to transfer eggs from their cardboard supermarket containers into fancy plastic ones?

Now what do you do with that fancy egg bin you bought or that came with your refrigerator? Here are a few ideas:

Donate it to your child's (or a nursery school's) play kitchen.

Create a sorting toy for a child from it by setting out a variety of small items (buttons, coins, seeds, hardware bits, rubber bands, tiny toys). Have the child learn to sort by different criteria: size, shape, color, material, etc.

Use it as a snack tray to get children to try little bits of new foods.

Use it as a paint palette.

Store extra buttons in it, sorted by color or size.

Use it to sort hardware when putting together a piece of DIY furniture. (I use a cardboard egg carton when putting together Ikea furniture.)

Even if you didn't succumb to the shopping pressure and buy a fancy egg bin, you can repurpose a plain plastic or cardboard egg carton for any of these uses.

When my children were little, I had them paint a different color in each well of a cardboard egg carton. We took the carton with us when we went for walks and hunted for little treasures along the way to match the colors they had painted. Every young child seems to go through a phase of interrupting walks by stopping to examine every single blade of grass or pebble, so this collecting activity made the walk more purposeful and enjoyable for grown-ups and children alike.

The moral of this story? Release yourself from the make-work of over-organizing things that area already perfectly well organized!

*To be fair, eggs can come in a variety of containers, not all of which are great: cardboard, styrofoam, or light plastic containers. Styrofoam is the worst as it's not recyclable and it cushions the eggs but isn't rigid enough to withstand being stacked, so you'll often find broken or cracked eggs. Light plastic is OK, but these usually have double lids (one domed to nestle the eggs, one flat to form the top) which are a pain to open. Plain old cardboard containers are my favorite for ease of recycling and ease of use.

It's nearly back-to-school time, so be sure to check out some of my previous posts about that (like this one, this one, and this one).

In the meantime, don't forget to enjoy the last gasp of summer with fun tips like this one!

Here’s a quick and organized way to serve lunch to your kids.

When my kids were little (and occasionally even now that they’re bigger), they loved the surprise of a muffin-tin lunch. The novelty of having several different foods in separate little compartments got them to try new things and to eat a more balanced meal.

After all, who doesn't like cute, tiny food and meals that give you a taste of everything? We grownups just call it tapas!

You can put all kinds of things in the tins, but it works best for two kids (or as a snack for 3-4, dividing the holes by row) with each child getting 6 muffin holes-worth of food.

Here's a fun idea to help you part with some of your excess stuff:​a good old-fashioned swap.

The general idea is that you get together with a bunch of friends and/or neighbors and everyone brings things they don't want anymore but that are in good, usable condition. Then you all go "shopping" for each other's stuff!.

If you decide to host a swap party, you can do it indoors or out, setting up tables or picnic blankets to display the wares.

It can be a pure swap ("I'll give you this coat for two of your books.") or you can assign items a value or rating. Give each item a star rating and trade based on how many stars items "cost." For example, you could trade three one-star items for one 3-star piece.

Your goal should be to end up going home with less than you brought, so choose to swap for smaller items or swap multiple items for one of something else.

At the end of the swap, offer to load up your car and drive ALL the leftovers to a donation center. Bring items to the closest one (Search for "donation center near me.") or your favorite charity.

Whatever you do, don't let that stuff back into your house! If you already decided you were ready to part with it, trust your instincts and stick with your decision.

The awesome cascading wall organizer which easily folds up to be portable then extends to hang on a wall hook. Great for people who need to see all of their projects at a glance and need to take files on the go.

1-2-3: Now's the time to air out your kitchen and do a deep cleaning! You can either do this all at once in a one-day marathon cleaning session, or do it in pieces: fridge, freezer, pantry, and a few cabinets or drawers at a time.

1. Kitchen Cabinets and Drawers

Use a microfiber cloth with a mix of water and white vinegar to clean surfaces. Vinegar helps cut grease, which can build up on kitchen surfaces.

Wipe down the outside of the cabinets and don't forget the handles.

Take everything out of your cabinets and drawers and sort into categories: frequently used, sometimes used, rarely used, donate/discard.

While the cabinets are empty, give them a good cleaning with the microfiber cloth.

While the drawers are empty, use a hand vacuum to get out the crumbs and dust, then wipe them with the microfiber cloth.

Check the freezer for foods that have expired or look like they have freezer burn. It's generally safe to eat foods with freezer burn, but they taste awful.

Wash refrigerator and freezer shelves and bins, either by hand or by running them through the dishwasher if they are removable.

Grab an empty plastic water bottle and use it as a "sentinel" to tell you that the food in your freezer is still safe to eat: Fill the water bottle half-way and set it on its side in the freezer until it freezes solid. Once frozen, set the bottle upright in the freezer. Check the bottle periodically to ensure that the water is still frozen vertically. If the water is down at the bottom of the bottle, you'll know that your freezer lost power and the water melted and refroze. If that's the case, then your frozen food did the same and is no longer safe to eat. This is great if you're in an area that loses power and you go on vacation and want to know if your freezer stayed frozen.

3. Pantry

Check the expiration dates on the foods in your pantry and toss anything that has expired.* Dry goods can become stale and oils can go rancid - yuck.

For foods that are close to their expiration date, place them near the edge of the shelf so you remember to eat those soon.

Vacuum and wipe pantry shelves just as you did the cabinets and drawers.

If you are at a loss for what to do with some of your pantry items, check recipe sites that let you search by ingredient to find ways to use up odd items.

If you find foods in your pantry that you're really never going to use, donate them to a local food pantry.* For me, it's usually fava beans. Every few years, I trick myself into thinking that I like fava beans so I buy them but I never seem to want to eat them!

Now enjoy cooking in your nice clean kitchen!*Please do not attempt to donate expired food to your local shelter or food pantry as they cannot accept foods that are past the expiration date.